The Overlap That Was Never a Gap
A surveyor is asked to retrace a 1998 plat of a 12-lot subdivision. The original plat shows Lot 7 as a 90.00-ft-wide frontage lot. In the field, the surveyor finds the original 3/4-inch iron pins at the four corners of Lot 7; the pins match the plat monument positions within 0.03 ft. The current owner of Lot 7 has built a fence 4.2 ft inside the western line, and the owner of Lot 6 has been mowing and maintaining landscaping up to that fence for 22 years. The county assessor's GIS parcel layer, which the owner printed and brought to the meeting, shows the boundary at the fence line. The surveyor's measurement of the record distance between the two original pins is 90.08 ft.
1. How should the surveyor resolve the conflict among the original pins, the fence/occupation line, and the assessor's GIS layer?
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Original monuments set at the time of the plat control over all other evidence. The pins are undisturbed, match the plat within 0.03 ft, and are the best available evidence of the original boundary. The 90.08-ft measured distance is a measurement of the record 90.00-ft line and does not move the boundary; the pins define it. The GIS layer is a tax-mapping approximation, not a boundary survey, and carries no legal weight for boundary location. The fence/occupation line is evidence of a possible boundary by acquiescence or adverse possession claim, but that is a legal question for the court or the parties, not something the surveyor can unilaterally adopt. The surveyor should plat the record boundary at the pins, show the fence and the GIS line as informational or 'found' features, and note the discrepancy and the occupation evidence on the face of the plat and in the report so the parties and their attorneys can address the legal claim.
2. The client asks the surveyor to 'just draw the line at the fence so it matches the county map.' What is the appropriate professional response?
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The surveyor must decline to depict a line the surveyor does not believe is the boundary. The surveyor's duty is to the record evidence and the monuments, not to the client's preference or a tax map. The surveyor should explain in writing that the fence line is shown as occupation, that the record boundary is at the pins, and that changing the depicted boundary to match the GIS would misrepresent the survey. The surveyor may offer to show both lines clearly labeled, and may recommend the client consult an attorney about any adverse-possession or acquiescence claim. If the client insists on a false depiction, the surveyor should withdraw from the engagement rather than sign a plat the surveyor believes is incorrect.